Regulators take voluntary route on tank car rules

Workers clean up derailed tank cars in downtown Lynchburg, Va., Thursday, May 1, 2014. Thirteen cars of a 105-car CSX train came off the tracks here Wednesday afternoon, spilling crude oil into the adjacent James River. Much of the oil burned, with flames and thick, black smoke towering over the city of 77,000. CSX has been moving unit trains of Bakken crude oil through Lynchburg to a rail-to-barge terminal in Yorktown, Va., since December, but some city officials said they weren’t notified.
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The U.S. Department of Transportation Wednesday announced steps to improve the safety of shipping crude oil by rail, but unlike its Canadian counterpart, is taking a voluntary approach to the phase-out of older tank cars long known to be vulnerable in derailments.

The department recommended that petroleum producers that ship by rail discontinue the use of older DOT-111 model tank cars. The National Transportation Safety Board has warned for years that the cars punctured easily in derailments, leading to spills and fires with flammable liquids.

The cars have performed poorly in the past several years in derailments involving ethanol, and more recently crude oil.

But like other efforts since the beginning of this year involving train speeds, track inspections and routing decisions, DOT’s tank car recommendations are not mandatory. In contrast, Transport Canada two weeks ago required a three-year phase-out of older tank cars.

The department did match Canada’s requirement that railroads disclose to state and county emergency management officials the routing, volume and frequency of crude oil shipments.

After a CSX train carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire in Lynchburg, Va., last Wednesday, the city’s mayor said he wasn’t aware that the shipments had been passing through his community every day since December.

Railroads are not required to disclose detailed information on hazardous materials shipments to state and local officials. But multiple rail accidents involving crude in the past several months have put pressure on the industry and its regulators.

“All options are on the table when it comes to improving the safe transportation of crude oil,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a statement, “and today’s actions, the latest in a series that make up an expansive strategy, will ensure that communities are more informed and that companies are using the strongest possible tank cars.”

Last week, the same day of the Lynchburg derailment, the department sent a package of proposed regulations to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review.

The process can take at least 90 days, and until it’s complete, the details will not be made public.

For community and environmental activists who have been pushing for more aggressive action from DOT, Wednesday’s announcement was a disappointment.

“Without a mandatory requirement and a strict timeline, it doesn’t do the job,” said Phillip Musegaas, Hudson River Program Director for Riverkeeper, a river conservation group.

Lawmakers expressed some skepticism as well.

“I’m concerned that calls for action without clear guidelines won’t actually do much to improve safety,” said Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.

Heitkamp’s home state has become the nation’s No. 2 producer of crude oil behind Texas, thanks to hydraulic fracturing of shale rock. The nation’s vast rail network has enabled the fast expansion of North Dakota oil production.

But neither industry nor regulators prepared for the danger of moving large quantities of a highly flammable liquid through populated areas and along sensitive waterways in less-than-adequate tank cars.

Before the Lynchburg derailment, trains carrying crude oil had derailed in Quebec, Alabama and North Dakota since last summer, resulting in large spills and fires. The derailment of a crude oil train in Quebec killed 47 people. The Alabama and North Dakota derailments spilled a combined 1.2 million gallons of crude -- more than the total spilled in rail accidents for almost 40 years.

Lawmakers did embrace the department’s move to require that railroads share more information about crude oil shipments with first responders.

However, during recent hearings on Capitol Hill and at the National Transportation Safety Board, fire chiefs and other emergency management officials have testified that they lack the staff, training and equipment to respond to large-scale fires and spills of crude oil from trains.

The rail industry’s leading advocacy group said that railroads would do all they can to comply.

“Freight railroads have for years worked with emergency responders and personnel to educate and inform them about the hazardous materials moving through their communities,” the Association of American Railroads said in a statement.